About Me

I'm a fifty-something male, born and raised in Virginia. Finally found my soul mate at the age of forty three after 2 strike outs and some ugly trips to the plate. I love to play golf, pool, the guitar and poker. I've also become a cyclist. I also love to make things out of wood. I'm currently employed as a sales training director for a health care distributor. I have four kids at various stages of life and plenty of good friends. I also have some friendly acquaintances that are part of my life, too. Sometimes, it's funny and sometimes it's sad but it's always entertaining. And I'm very glad to be here enjoying it.
Why this blog? Well, I'm happier with my life than I've been since I was about 8 years old and I'd like to tell others why just in case they decide they'd like to be that happy, too.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Disclaimer:
I am not a financial wizard, or a financial analyst. I sold health insurance
for six months or so but that was 35 years ago. I do work for a company in the

business
of health care but we distribute supplies so we get paid no matter how this
goes. Finally, these thoughts are mine and mine alone. I’m just a concerned
citizen who scratches his head at the folly of our legislature debating Health
Care and various acts they want to repeal or pass.

Let’s
begin with the Facts:

Prior
to 1973, it was illegal for healthcare to be conducted on a “for profit” basis.
The Health Maintenance Organization Act was passed by Congress and signed into
law by President Nixon on December 29, 1973 to encourage and promote HMOs as a
way to reduce the cost of health care on a trial basis. The intention of this
act was that entities could eventually begin to use profits to offset costs,
thus driving down overall costs. (Or make a buck out of healthcare, however it
worked out. Turned out to be the latter.)

All
Americans are guaranteed to receive some form of health care should they show
up at an Emergency Room at a hospital even if they have no way to pay for it. (This is as a result of the
Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act passed by Congress in 1986 and signed
into law by President Reagan. It’s an unfunded mandate that all hospitals
appear to heed; more on this later.) The fact that this legislation was passed
leads me to believe that, We the People, believe that everyone is entitled and
has a right to basic healthcare.

The annual
cost of healthcare in the US is $8608 per capita (that’s as of 2015; current
estimate is $10,068 per capita) which is the highest in the world. Despite
this, the US does not have the “best health care in the world” as many believe.
The following paragraph comes from Wikipedia.

The United States life
expectancy of 79.8 years at birth, up from 75.2 years in 1990, ranks it 42nd
among 224 nations, and 22nd out of the 35 industrialized OECD countries,
down from 20th in 1990.[6][7] Of 17 high-income countries studied by the National
Institutes of Health in 2013,
the United States had the highest or near-highest prevalence of obesity, car
accidents, infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted
infections, adolescent
pregnancies, injuries, and
homicides. On average, a U.S. male can be expected to live almost four fewer
years than those in the top-ranked country, though notably Americans aged 75
live longer than those who reach that age in other developed nations.[8] A 2014 survey of the healthcare systems of 11 developed
countries found the US healthcare system to be the most expensive and
worst-performing in terms of health access, efficiency, and equity.[9]

(We
must be very proud!)

There
is no such thing as “free health care.” Even the indigent, who may get health
care they can’t pay for, aren’t getting it for free. It may be free to them but
the rest of us are paying for it.

How?
Hospitals, bound by the law mentioned above, record the cost of that care on
their books as “un-reimbursed expenses” which is above the profit line. That
means, it is accounted for as an expense or “cost of doing business” and is
simply deducted from their potential profits. In other words, all of those who
pay the hospital money (insurance companies, your employer, you in the form of
copay or deductibles) pay for it.

That
means WE pay for all the health care
in the country. Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and our employers may
send a check to pay parts of our healthcare bill but they get the money to do
so from We The People in the form of taxes paid, health insurance premiums,
copays, and deductibles. We pay. They

administrate.

About
18.5% of all the money in our economy is taken up by the cost of health care.
How much is that?

Current In
round numbers, it’s $3,400,000,000,000. That’s over three trillion
dollars and it continues to go up every year. This is the reason that the
Affordable

Current Law

Care Act and it’s repeal / replacement / adjustment / tweaking are
so important to our Congress. And it should be very important to all of us
because, in the end, they’re discussing the distribution of almost 20% of our money, each year.

Do you trust them? (And by them, I’m
talking about Congress since they’re the ones deciding how this will be done.)

Now,
here are my Opinions (along with some additional facts):

Consumerism????

I find
it ridiculous that healthcare isn’t treated like nearly every other business in
this country. What do I mean? Well, we have all kinds of consumer protection laws
in place to ensure we don’t get the shaft from just about every type of business
but nothing like that exists in healthcare!

When I
worked in retail consumer electronics, we were required to have on display

Prices?

and
available for sale in every store, any item that was advertised in our
newspaper circular. Failure to do so, could result in a $10,000 fine per
location. On any given Sunday, that meant we were on the hook for up to $7
million in fines due to being out of stock and this was enforced by the Federal
Trade Commission. (The law came about as the result of bait and switch tactics
practiced by some retailers.)

In the
world of healthcare, pricing is a kind of smoky unreality that no one really
wants to talk about with the patients. (The only place where pricing is upfront
is typically in the case of Urgent Care Clinics. These places spell out their
prices for visits when you check in. In other words, they act like a retailer.
How refreshing!)

Example
– an acquaintance of mine was diagnosed with a form of sleep apnea and was
prescribed a CPAP device; these blow air in your nose and keep your airway open
so you can actually sleep. When they went to the equipment provider, they were
unable to tell how much the unit cost and how much the private insurer would
cover. This person called the insurance provider and they were unable to
explain how much coverage would be provided so that the insured could budget
for the purchase. In other words, no one was willing to own up to actual cost for the patient! (In the end, it
amounted to over $1200 and this person was able to cover that but most people
in this country could not afford that expense; in fact, most Americans couldn’t afford it
if it was as little at $400.)

High
Costs – because, waste

On a
different plane, why is the cost of healthcare itself so high? Particularly
when the US clearly isn’t getting much in return? (See rankings above.)

For
one thing, there is a great deal of waste involved in our current system. The
person with the CPAP machine that I just mentioned received a total of 11
different bills (delivered thru US mail) for the device, despite having gone to
only one provider for the unit!

This
is an example of waste that occurs on a daily basis in every aspect of health
care. In this case there is at least 10 bills too many, all with postage that
adds up to around $5 of wasted postage cost. But it’s far more than that. Each
of those bills and invoices had to go through various departments/people for
processing before being printed and mailed to the insured. A quick Google
search tells me that it costs anywhere from $7 to $37 dollars for each invoice
produced. If we take the halfway point, that’s $22 per invoice or $220 worth of
waste for this one transaction. Bear in mind, that the waste noted here is only
on the patient side. If the same number of invoices have to be produced for the
private insurers, it doubles. That’s $400 of waste on one transaction (that
cost the patient $1200) and we’ve only looked at the billing!

More
waste occurs in another way, over-testing. Currently, physicians are reimbursed
for procedures / tests that they perform, a methodology known as pay for
procedure. The downside to this is that it incents them to perform more tests
than may be needed for a given presentation by a patient. Is there
justification for this? Maybe. Doctors claim that it helps to keep the cost of
malpractice insurance down but I haven’t done any research on that. (I do know
that my personal physician sold his practice about 8 years ago and moved into
another role in health care because his malpractice insurance had risen to $12,000 per month and he’d never had a
claim! That cost was more than he could overcome.)

It’s
estimated that a third of health care costs are caused by waste in the system.
That seems like a reasonable number to me, especially when you consider that
64% of all healthcare is paid or administered through some form of government
program: Medicaid, Medicare, Veteran’s Administration, for example. If that
estimate is correct, that is $1 trillion that is being paid for, needlessly, by
all of us every year! (That’s 1/12 of the economy.)

Higher
Costs – because, profit!

Another
cause for the high cost of health care stems from the costs of pharmaceuticals.
Manufacturers invest a great deal of money in coming up with new drugs to fix
all of the things that ail humankind and I recognize that. But do you know how
much they spend on advertising? In 2016, it was $5.2 billion!

WTF with 2 tubs????

Direct
to consumer drug advertising began in 1982 but didn’t really get going until
1997 when the law was loosened up and TV advertising began in earnest. It’s
gotten really bad the last few years as more and more manufacturers expand
their advertising and, coincidentally, their prices. According to a report by
CBS News, 20 brand-name, high use, prescription drugs have quadrupled their
prices since 2014. In 3 years, that equates to a compound annual increase of
48%! I’m not aware of any current business that is driving it’s pricing in such
a way while still remaining in business.

So,
“Ask your doctor if continuing to get screwed by high drug prices is right for
you!”

Solutions
– are there any?

The
Affordable Care Act, known colloquially as Obamacare, was enacted in 2010 and
signed into law by President Obama. It was designed to reduce the overall cost
of healthcare by providing insurance coverage for those who can least afford it
and, generally speaking, cost the most.

Remember
the law guaranteeing health care for poor people in the ER? That’s where many
would go for anything health related. As a result, they’d be going to the most
expensive provider for the least expensive need (flu, cold, general maladies)
and getting no well care to help keep chronic disease (diabetes, hypertension,
high cholesterol) held at bay. Result – increase in health care cost.

The
ACA provided millions more people with health insurance, and coincidentally
slightly better health care, thus bending the cost curve down. (That’s not
really a reduction in expense, it’s a reduction in the amount of increase. It’s
better but not dramatically so.)

American
Health Care Act

Turn your head and cough!

Now
that the GOP is in charge of the House, Senate, and White House, they are bound
and determined to fix healthcare once and for all. They intend to do this by
repealing and replacing the ACA and replacing it with something better. (Thus,
saving us from “the complete failure of Obamacare.” I wish everyone would speak
less dramatically about all of this. Obamacare has actually bent the curve down
slightly as to the overall cost. I hope whatever the GOP comes up with fails at
least that good!)

The
House plan calls for reducing the amount of money spent on Medicaid (that’s the
one that covers the poorest people in the country) a defunding of Planned
Parenthood, along with a loosening of insurance laws that would allow them to
sell across state lines (that’s not yet clear on details) and it would leave in
place some of the features from the ACA around pre-existing conditions and
allowing dependent children coverage until age 26.

This
plan would also remove a tax on the wealthiest members of society which was in
place to pay for the ACA. (Thank goodness! I was worried about them.)

According
to the Congressional Budget Office, this would cause 23 million people
currently insured to lose their coverage.

According
to the House majority, this would turn loose the power of the open market to
reduce prices for insurance thanks to competition and free market forces. It
would also allow people to purchase the insurance they want, instead of having
it forced up on them. (Except of course poor people who, according to one
legislator could just “get a job to pay for it.” Or pay for their living
expenses, like food or something.)

The
Senate, as of this writing, is still working on their own version of the repeal
and replace bill. Things that have been floated out from the caucus that is working
on it, don’t sound much different from the House version

My
Solution – Hey guys, you’re fixing the wrong things!

I
believe that every citizen of the US is entitled to basic healthcare, just like
every other developed nation on the planet. I further believe that rich people
should be free to purchase even better health care if they wish because, hey,
they can!

I
don’t believe that the government should be in the administration of health
care but I do believe they need to be involved in setting parameters for the
business. (Why? It’s 1/6 of our economy. If it’s not regulated we end up with
the Great Medical Recession of 2030 or something like it. Don’t think it needs
to be? See banking and Great Recession on Google.)

I
believe that the only way to do this is by using a system that I call Modified
Single Payer. (I fully recognize this is way oversimplified but we have to start somewhere and I'm not against something completely different!)

I
propose that insurance companies are designated for every locale in the
country. It could be state, region, county, GMA, or something else. Every area
has at least 2 companies to insure competition. These are for-profit entities
and are required to cover all the citizens in their markets. (Note that
non-citizens are not covered by this.)

Providers
(that’s the medical people) can sign up with whichever insurer they want or
both or none if they prefer. (My back doctor refuses to take insurance and he
is doing just fine without it. I don’t want to force any provider on this.)

All of
the money (less 30%) that is currently being paid out for healthcare is dumped
into a pool to be divided among the payers and it’s their job to pay for the
health care being handled by the providers.

The
pool of money made up of that 30% is held back for bonuses. As waste is
identified and quantified, the bonus money is provided in some form to compensate
the group that discovers it, at a maximum of 1/3 of the bonus pool. This could
be providers, insurers, even patients! If no waste is discovered, no bonus is
paid.

All of the money left over at the end of a period (2/3 or 20% of the
total spent) is refunded back to the citizens who paid it into the fund. (If
someone didn’t pay any in, they don’t get any back.)

I
submit that this would improve out healthcare AND our health while improving
our economy ($680 billion back in the hands of Americans that isn’t going to
health care? New TVs for everybody!!!!). And we might even have a health system
that rivals other countries.

Monday, April 10, 2017

A few
weeks ago, MB and I flew down to Florida for a wedding on her side of the
family. It turned into a raucously good time, winding up as a family reunion of
sorts with about 25 people attending from all over the country.

'Murica

The festivities
took place in central Florida, a town called Crescent City, that is reachable
by driving 40 – 50 miles from one of 3 different airports. We got the best
price from JetBlue to Orlando and so our drive was through the most rural part
of the state including Pierson, the Fern Capital of the World. (I had no idea
this existed; there were miles of covered fields, all housing ferns from the
sun.)

This
ride is mainly on 2 lane blacktop, going through small towns and communities.
It’s the heart of Trump country, with many of his

Coming soon!

signature signs still up in
celebration. There were even some billboards congratulating him.

I turned
the satellite radio to Radio Margaritaville and played it loud while MB
knitted.

Cheap
Motels

We had
made reservations at one of the places to stay in Crescent City, the Lake View
Motel. It had been a number of years since I stayed in a “motel” (a word coined
mid-20th century for Motor Hotel, in other words along the road) and
I had a pretty low bar set for what we would find. At $70 a night, you need to
set your sights a little lower. This place was your basic cinder block construction,
painted bright white with a very well kept outside appearance.

King of the Road...

To our
surprise, the hotel while dating from the 1950s, was very well kept inside,
clean and bright, and the proprietors (a Middle eastern family) very friendly.
They’ve evidently run the place for almost 10 years and clearly take pride in
it; the place was full for the weekend with all 18 rooms in use.

Our
room had an issue with a toilet that wouldn’t flush very well. We reported it
the first morning and they attempted to fix it while we were out. Unable to do
so properly, the owner went and purchased a new one and he and his handyman
installed it the next morning while we went out for breakfast. The only thing
missing in the motel was any kind of internet but we got around that by going
to McDonalds to use their wifi one morning, allowing us to keep up with the rest
of the world.

Wedding
and After Party

Let's party!

The
wedding took place on the beach, reachable by a 45 minute drive through a
magnificent park. Afterwards, we all headed back to Crescent City to a local
restaurant where the bride and groom had first met 3 years before. The restaurant
was called “Three Bananas” and every sign we saw for it, although not the one
on the building, had a misplaced apostrophe that just drove MB crazy the entire
weekend. The current “apostrophe catastrophe” in our country is very real in
her mind and she never misses a chance to bemoan the complete downfall of
English grammar. (This from a guy who drinks coffee from a cup that says “I am
silently correcting your grammar.”)

There
were lots of pictures taken, lots of food was consumed (nearly all of it was
fried, much to the disgust of MB who is not a fan of bar food anyway) and
plenty of drinks were drunk. A large time was shaping up to be had by all!

About
6:30, the musical provider began setting up. I thought it was a DJ at first; he
was setting up a portable PA system (Fender Passport – a real nice, small
system) a computer with lots of music loaded up, and a microphone system. Hmm.
Was this karaoke?

He
carried in a guitar gig bag containing a Fender Strat knockoff, and a keyboard
and stand, and set those up, too. Apparently, he was a musician! By then, he
had a helper who stationed himself at the computer. They talked back and forth
for a few minutes and then started the show.

The
singer stepped up to the keyboard, pulled the mic up to his mouth and
introduced himself. (I didn’t catch the name.) He said to be prepared to dance
and have some fun! The music started and he began singing a KC and the Sunshine
Band number.

Tables
were pulled back to clear a space for a dance floor and the bride and groom got
their first dance in as the singer switched to something slow. All the other
traditional dances (father and bride, mom and groom, etc) took place and there
was great picture taking going on throughout all of it.

After
the bridal party finished all the planned bits, the singer began performing a
string of dance numbers and up tempo songs to get folks out on the dance floor.
Up to this point, I’d been off to the side taking pictures and singing along. I
caught MB’s eye and we headed out to dance.

And
then, it got kind of weird….

Somewhere
along about the fourth or fifth song, I found myself directly in front of the
singer. I forget what song he was doing but a guitar solo was about to come up
on it (at least that’s what the original had) and I turned to watch him play
it.

(Full
disclosure: I play the guitar although I don’t consider myself a guitar player.
I play rhythm guitar, almost never any lead stuff because I’m just not that
good, and I’m always watching other players to see how they do it. That was my
motivation for watching closely.)

Caution:

I
watched the singer’s left hand and realized he was playing in the wrong
position on the fretboard, playing the wrong notes. When I looked at his right
hand, he wasn’t playing the correct string, either. He was singing the song,
and very well, too, but he was totally faking the guitar work! Just to be sure,
I looked at the guitar cable and noticed that it wasn’t plugged into the amp or
a mixing board either. In fact, it seemed to just disappear under a mat that he
was standing on.

I
stared in absolute fascination. I have never seen anything like this before and
just couldn’t imagine that I was the only one who noticed. A hundred things
passed through my mind, like did he think he was fooling people? Was I the only
guitar player to see him in action? Does he think he’s actually playing?

The guy
had a decent voice and was quite a showman with all the stage moves that one
sees in house bands. Maybe it was just this song, and I was mistaken.

At the
end of the number, he put the guitar back in the stand, took a sip of water,
and moved over to the keyboard. I watched him hit a couple of buttons as if he
was selecting a particular instrument or tone. Then he counted in and his
assistant hit play on the computer for the next song. Almost immediately, he began
pounding on the keys and while he was in the correct rhythm he wasn’t playing
anything remotely like the music coming out of the speakers.

I
followed the connector cable coming out of the back of the keyboard and it went
under the same mat as the guitar and no other cables were coming out. Another
fake instrument!

I
suppose it’s a good thing the microphone was plugged in or he could have billed
himself as Marcel Marceau plays and sings the hits!

(Google it)

I went
back to dancing and smiling and laughing with all the other family members and
guests.

Spilled
beans

I went
back to a table to sit a couple of songs out and one of my wife’s cousins came
over to me. She said, “What do you think of the singer?”

“I
think he’s a really good karaoke performer.” Was my reply.

“What
do you mean?” she responded.

“He’s singing
but he’s not playing anything. Neither of his instruments are plugged into
anything and he’s not even playing the correct notes. Watch him right now and
tell me if you can see him playing the piano like the music sounds.” She
listened intently for a minute while watching his hands on the keys.

“Oh my
god! You’re right!” She wandered off to tell her husband and soon, just about
everyone in the wedding party knew and was talking about it. There were lots of
knowing looks and giggles passed around during the next couple of hours. By
the time MB and I headed back to the hotel, it was no longer an item for
discussion.

It was, however, a topic for conversation at our gathering the next
couple of days.

It's
important to note that knowing this guy was faking it didn’t detract from our
enjoyment of the evening. Truth is, the guy did a fine job of picking a good
blend of music, was a solid vocal talent, and acted like someone in a live band
should act when entertaining people. We danced, sang along, and had a great
time. (I’ve since learned that he’s a regular at this place and is very well
liked for the parties that he hosts at the place.)

Summing
Up

So, a
guy who doesn’t actually play any instruments (although he fervently pretends
to do so) has a following of adoring regulars, who come out to celebrate his
faking it (perhaps they don’t know it) and they dance and sing while he spins
the tunes and appears to be doing something they really like, leading a big
party every weekend.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

I’m a
cynic, I admit it. If there’s a cynical comment to be made, you can count on it
coming out of my mouth. It’s probably one of the reasons I describe myself as a
“flailing Buddhist.” I just can’t let stupid stuff go by without some kind of
observation.

There
is a belief in organizational development circles that a weakness is actually a
strength taken to the extreme.

For
example, flexibility is considered by itself to be a strength. But if one is
too flexible they run the risk of being thought of as unable to take a stand,
wishy-washy. And that’s not a good thing in business.

If
that theory holds true, then a cynic is simply an idealist who has been
disappointed one time too many. Or constantly.

I
recite this preamble because an acquaintance of mine asked for a post on What’s
Great about America! (This came about after reading my post about bias. I
wonder if they’re related?) Here’s my shot. For your reading convenience, my
cynical take is included after each section, parenthetically and in red italics so
you can skip it if you’d rather focus on nothing but the positive. (It’s just
one more service I provide!)

What’s
great about America

America the Beautiful!

Land:
America encompasses 3,794,083 square miles including water (lakes, ponds,
rivers) and the beautiful views, abundant resources, vast plains, sturdy
mountain ranges, and verdant valleys make it a wonderland that is the envy of
much of the rest of the world. It’s no wonder that Americans dream big; our
homeland almost commands us to do so!

(As I
write this, our new President has signed an executive order reinstating the XL
and Dakota pipeline access projects to completion. So, some of that pristine
stuff is now at risk but no sense worrying about that now. He’s also chosen,
for head of the EPA, a person who has filed suit dozens of times against the
organization he’ll head. How convenient. Nothing to see here, folks!)

Freedom:
Our 241-year-old experiment in democracy continues on its journey, with the
taste of freedom in every citizen’s mouth. The First Amendment to our
Constitution guarantees each of us that:

Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.

Word!

Never was this more in evidence than on January 21, 2017 when
enormous crowds of peaceful protesters (majority of females) gathered in cities
across the land to stand up for the rights of everyone: women, LGBTQ, poor,
Black, Latino, immigrants all were called out and told they would be taken care
of. In solidarity, marches took place in over 500 cities and countries around
the world with the same message.

(Our new President, has taken to Twitter to explain to
everyone that his Inauguration crowd was bigger and, besides, didn’t we just
have an election? Why didn’t these people vote? He later stated that demonstrations
were the backbone of democracy, or something like that. My feeling is, if you’re going to have an
argument with women about size, you better bring the goods and the numbers show
he didn’t. He’s also been in a running battle, and these are his words, with
“mainstream media” because he says they are purveyors of fake news. Really? I
guess that’s just because he ran for President and no one likes him or
something. Perhaps he’s confusing the editorial pages with the news pages. The
administration has shut down various government agency’s ability to tweet,
announce, or otherwise communicate with the outside as they “develop their
policies to match the new administrations goals.” Some people are saying, first
step to autocracy. I prefer, “first step to a brave new world.” Pun intended!)

Wealth: The American economy has been the largest on earth
for decades, only recently being challenged for the top spot by China in the
last few years. Our capitalist system has allowed average people to become
millionaires and billionaires starting businesses, developing real estate. Some
became millionaires by working their way up the corporate ladder from the mail
room to the board room! A recent example of entrepreneurism at its best is shown
in the film The Founder, a story about Ray Kroc who discovered and improved a
small burger joint, turning it

Cabinet members will see you now!

into a conglomerate and becoming the CEO of
McDonalds; but only after failing in business several times right into middle
age before finally becoming successful.

(How wealthy are some people? Well, according to sources, the
wealthiest 80 Americans have more wealth than the bottom half of the population
combined. Some very wealthy people are being tapped for Cabinet positions. I’m hoping
the new Administration’s main goal will be to teach everyone else how they did
it, themselves. As opposed to continuing to make it easier for them and their
ilk to gain more wealth. Right?)

Equality: Our Constitution guarantees every American many
rights, including equality in the eyes of the law. This is the cornerstone of
democracy.

(Of course, that’s taken a bunch of amendments to get here,
and the Equal Rights Amendment – guaranteeing the rights of women – never was
passed. Some say, what’s the big deal? But women still only earn 80% of men, on
average, in the same position; blacks earn 74.6% of whites in the same
position. Some of my female friends tell me they have to work twice as hard and
have twice the performance to be considered the same as men. Fortunately, they
say, that’s not that hard.)

Healthcare: Everyone in America has access to healthcare in
this country. Truly. State laws require hospitals to provide healthcare to
anyone that comes into their emergency rooms, even those who are unable to pay.
So, everyone has healthcare available to them. The Affordable Care Act was
passed in an effort to provide the opportunity for more people to have health
insurance so that they wouldn’t go to an emergency unit for care and, thus,
reduce the overall cost of healthcare. According to a nonpartisan research team
study, that has occurred and the cost curve has been bent down. In other words,
the act was at least partly successful in it’s goal.

(And still, as I write this, our new President has taken the
time to sign an executive order to begin to repeal, not tweak, repeal this law.
Because this law has “killed jobs” (sorry, it hasn’t) because it’s not providing
coverage (sorry, that’s false) that you couldn’t “keep your doctor” (that’s
true in some instances). What is particularly bothersome to me is that no one
is pointing out that healthcare costs continue to rise and are at the point of
being unsustainable – 19% of the US GDP. The ACA was an attempt to slow that
down and was only marginally effective. What we really need is a complete
overhaul of our system – kind a moonshot project – and I don’t see this Administration
and Congress having the skills/desire/motivation to pull it off; at least not
as long as lobbyists keep filling their pockets. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong!)

Education: Our public education system is designed to provide
an education to all kids. A number of acts over the years have worked to make
the system better and better. No Child Left Behind, passed under President Bush
(43) was designed to provide quality education to those who might otherwise be
unable to get one due to being in the poorest part of the population. Our
colleges and universities are outstanding and many are among the finest in the
world.

Psst. Her pockets are Yuge!

(No Child Left Behind, while being noble in its goal, has
turned out to promote mediocrity thus reducing the quality of education. It
seems to me that many states, in their efforts to improve public education,
have done the opposite by working to standardize so many things that good
students are slowed down. They’ve also focused almost entirely on the notion
that education is an expense rather than an investment and that has eroded the
motivation for people to go into public school teaching as salaries remain
stagnant and teachers are made to teach to tests instead of helping people
learn. But I’m sure our new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, will fix all
this. During her confirmation hearing she failed to answer a number of
questions correctly, some that are taught in first year teaching courses. Hell,
I know the answers and I’m a trainer! She was confirmed on a historic
tie-breaking vote by VP Mike Pence on the strength of: She had donated over
$200 million to GOP legislators. I’m sure this will all work out, just fine!)

Opportunity: In America, every child that is born in this
country can grow up and become President, one day!

(And now that we’ve proven this aphorism to be true, can we
never do this again?!?!?!?!?!?!?)

In closing, I can say that America is already great. Now, can
we agree as a people not to eff it up from here? Please?

Saturday, January 7, 2017

a particulartendency,trend,inclination,feeling,oropinion,especially onethatispreconceivedorunreasoned.

I’ve
started a new blog post about a half dozen times in the past two months. I’ve
been struggling with deciding what to write about since the election; it’s been
one of the main sources of conversation for so many that I felt like I had to
jump in. But I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to say. I’ve finally decided
to talk about bias because I think it’s what caused the election to turn out as
it did. I also think it tends to drive most of what we think and do. I’m
concerned that if we, as a society, don’t get a handle on us, it may lead to
our ultimate destruction.

During
conversations with some of my friends over the past few weeks, I’ve been
attempting to understand how people that I would normally describe as
intelligent are losing their minds, spewing “news stories” that are anything
but, and trashing the constitutional tenets that guide our republic. All in an
effort to get me to agree that their selection for President (Trump) was the
correct one. Or to get me to agree that Clinton was the correct choice and the
election had been stolen from her.

The
act of being in these conversations has led me to begin forming opinions about
personal bias. (Forgive me if this covers ground you already know, yourself.
I’m just becoming aware of these things. At least this election accomplished
something!)

Race

A few
weeks ago, a friend of mine told me that he thought that President Obama had
done more to increase racism in this country than any individual in history. His
statement was, “Obama said that he doesn’t believe that police are doing their
jobs, that they’re targeting black men, and that he doesn’t support their
behavior.”

We did
a quick google search on our phones (my bride calls smart phones “pocket BS
detectors”) and were unable to come up with a quote that was anywhere close to
what my friend had just said. Most quotes were around how difficult the job of
a police officer is and we can’t undermine that by painting them all with a
broad brush.

The
fact that we couldn’t find the quote my friend claimed to have heard was
disturbing to him. I pointed out that it was possible that the liberal media
had removed the story in order to keep Obama’s legacy intact. When he
vehemently agreed, I pointed out that I’d been kidding. (Hmmmm. Bias.)

I
suggested something else.

“Let’s
pretend, for a moment, that instead of Obama saying that, it was George W. Bush
when he was president. So, President Bush at a press conference says, ‘I
believe that there is a group of police officers who are not doing their jobs,
that are targeting black males and I want this to stop because I don’t support
that kind of behavior.’ How does that change it for you?”

My
friend couldn’t really come up with an answer.

So I
said, “Wouldn’t you think that President Bush was trying to ensure that police were
doing their jobs properly?” He replied in the affirmative.

“Would
you say that he was reaching out to the black community in an effort to get
them to see that he was trying to help them?” Again, he agreed with that.

“So
when a white president says it, he’s doing the right thing. But when a black
president says it, he’s what? Getting uppity? Not knowing his place? Rabble
rousing?”

My
friend, who I truly don’t believe is a racist, couldn’t answer the question.

I
suggest that his “personal bias” made him look at the words, hear the words,
even understand the words, differently. Perhaps even make up new words to match
his bias.

Religion

I’m a
member of a Unitarian Universalist church. I consider myself to be agnostic
only because I can’t imagine an actual god but I also can’t imagine there not
being a higher power. In other words, I need some proof. The closest thing I
can align to is Buddhism and, quite frankly, I describe myself as a “flailing Buddhist”
as I’m not very good at living in the moment or at accepting things.

My
church describes itself as a liberal church and welcomes all who choose to
worship with us. UUism doesn’t have a dogma but, instead, draws on many
different faiths and teachings for inspiration. We are a welcoming congregation,
meaning that we want all who come to join us to feel welcome.

In the
fifteen or so years that I’ve been a member, we’ve done all sort of things that
could be considered welcoming. At one point, we had a group of Amadiyah Muslims
meeting in our church building before they were able to build their own mosque.
This offshoot of Islam is among the most peaceful and focus their entire worth
on love. The members that I met were incredibly kind and compassionate. (At the
same time, women in their group were not given a seat in leadership; they were
subservient to the men at all times. Interesting bias.)

A
couple of years ago, we had a person come to our church for a period of time.
Several people reached out to learn more about him and his family. They began
to take an active role in the church and then, one day, they stopped coming.
Why? Turned out that he was a Republican and was taken aback with so much
anti-GOP talk that he heard among the members and from the pulpit.

I
guess, to some degree, we are welcoming but especially to those who think as we
do. Once again, bias comes into play.

Conservative
vs Liberal

This
one plays out every day, on every channel that broadcasts news stories (or what
passes for news) by anyone who watches. Same with newspapers, news magazines,
and even news websites.

The New York Times is a very old newspaper that prides itself
on reporting the news as accurately and fairly as it can. It has won many
awards for doing just that, including multiple Pulitzer prizes.

Here’s a test for you.What’s
your opinion of the New York Times? Before you continue reading, take a moment
and decide your answer. I’ll wait.

Okay,
you may continue.

Some
people think that the NYT is a “liberal rag” and not worth the paper it’s
printed on. Others think it’s the last bastion of good reporting in the nation.
Still others, think it’s a puppet of the right wingers.

How could
all of those opinions differ so widely? Bias, pure and simple. (Your answer
above is, of course, based on your personal bias.)

(Side
note: The Richmond Times-Dispatch, my local newspaper, has a long history of
being conservative, having endorsed the GOP candidate almost exclusively for
decades. When they endorsed Gary Johnson this past October, a large number of people
lost their minds. The letters to the editors almost never fail to elicit a
chuckle from me. They’re almost better than the comics! Bias examples abound
just about daily.)

So
what?

Here’s
the deal. I remember a time when most of us were taught to listen politely to
what someone else had to say about a topic. I remember it as a time that was
more thoughtful, respectful, and when we were able to accomplish more.
(Remember when Kennedy challenged America to go to the moon? It took 9 years.
Think that could happen today? Not a chance. Too many people arguing about it.)

Want
to think more clearly about things and help break the cycle? Do this.

Take
the time to consider the other person’s point of view, even if it directly
opposes what you believe. (The operative word is consider here. Don’t discard
what they say out of hand. Just consider it. What if they were right? What if
you were wrong? What if both of you were wrong?)

If
asked, give your own opinion, politely, about the same topic. Provide the other
person with your reasons for the opinion. (Bear in mind, facts should have more
value than opinions or feelings.) Ask the other person to consider your point
of view, too.

Above
all else, listen to understand don’t listen to reply! Life isn’t a debate. We’re
all in this together and, in the final analysis, we all want what’s best for
the country, our lives, our families, and ourselves.

In the
end, if your opinions haven’t changed, agree to disagree and thank the other
person for sharing their thoughts with you. Both parties will be changed by
this, whether or not they believe that.

Final
thoughts

I don’t
claim to have all the answers. I’m not sure I even have half of the questions!
I only know that we, as a society, are at a very strange place in our journey.
We have the capability to end it ourselves and, frankly, I’m worried that’s
going to happen if we don’t change the ways we interact.

We
also have the wherewithal to be better than we are, as a country, and as a
world. I intend to do my share.